A Chaotic State
by Jadesfire2
Summary: Jessie's back, after three years of being lost in Andes, where everyone thought she died like her mother. But something's wrong...she's not the same, and nobody can figure out what happened-and who followed her back?
1. Default Chapter

A Chaotic State  
By Jadesfire2  
Summary: Rocketshippy. Jessie's back, after three years of being lost in Andes, where everyone thought she died like her mother. But something's wrong...she's not the same, and nobody can figure out what happened-and who followed her back?  
--  
  
"James!" Shinbo was now yelling and pounding the door insanely. "James, you better open this door now! Open it-or I'll tell the police you're trying to commit suicide!" Great, the last thing he needed was to see the police. "NOW, James!"  
  
He went to the door and opened it, where a very agitated Shinbo was standing in the hall, arms crossed. "I wasn't trying to kill myself," James said shortly, he was in a bad mood today. "I just didn't want to see anyone."  
  
Shinbo was still glaring at him. "That's why I came over," he said. "Tonight were gonna go out and buy you a life." He saw that James looked less than pleased at the joke, and he knew why. Now more than ever did he really need to get on with it. "This is going to sound too blunt and insensitive, but she's dea-"  
  
"Lost." James growled. "She's lost." Then he turned around to find the remote control. He did, and turned on the news. Still nothing. Nobody had found a red haired girl in the mountains-dead or alive.  
  
Shinbo sighed. He didn't know why he put up with this guy. He felt sorry for James; whoever this Jessie was, her disappearance had hit him hard. There was a picture of her on the bookshelf-her, James, and a Meowth that James seemed to believe could talk, poor guy.   
  
Shinbo had sort of taken James under his wing, after he'd caught the guy in his apartment, trying to steal food. He'd just felt sorry for him, loosing his job and friends in such a short time.   
  
"You don't know her," James said, talking in the present tense instead of the past. "People like Jessie don't just die. It's like that Twerp...Ketchum...kids like that don't just loose."  
  
Shinbo had to think for a moment... "Ketchum...oh, wait, the child Pokemon Master?"  
  
James nodded. "I remember when he couldn't beat a gym leader," for a moment it was as if James was talking about a son that had grown up, but then he added "stupid kid-it was all his fault" and was quiet once more.  
  
Shinbo had put up with his constant brooding over the lost girl for a year, and then he had worked, bit by bit, to get James to act somewhat normal-but he then learned that "normal" for James was something else entirely. But at this time of year he was always acting like this, even now, three years after she was gone.  
And this was just about as much as Shinbo could take.   
He grabbed James's arm and started to drag him to the door. "We're going out."  
  
"Going where? I really would rather stay-"  
  
Shinbo turned to face him. "You need to start dating again or else you're going to die a single man lusting after a dead girl!" he yelled.   
  
"She's not dead and there is no 'dating again' because we never dated!" James yelled in protest. "Besides, I really don't-"   
  
Shinbo considered this. "Well, fine. You obviously haven't gotten over her so dating is too soon," he surrendered.   
  
"Thank you," James said, and was about to walk back to the couch when Shinbo pulled his arm again.  
  
"But you do need to at least see some other women, or else every time ya see a girl you'll think it's that Jessie person," he said, grinning.  
  
James grimaced. Shinbo was very nice, but also a big pervert, and so when he said "see some other women" he meant strip club.  
  
"Look," he said. "James-fine. Let's say she's alive. I'll accept that if you accept this: if she is alive, she's not coming back."  
  
And as he was saying this, a small group of hikers made their way into a run down hospital in Peru. They were met by a few nurses, who helped them get their cargo, a red-haired girl, onto a stretcher. 


	2. 

"That was fun!" Shinbo called out to the street, half drunk. "to bad the strip club was closed."   
  
James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure, whatever," he muttered, grabbing Shinbo's car keys. They walked (well, Shinbo was hopping parking meters) from the bar to Shinbo's car. "I'm driving," James announced, waving the keys that Shinbo was checking his jacket for.  
  
"Dude, I'm fine!" his friend insisted, cheeks as red as his hair.   
  
"I'm not letting you crash us into a tree, come on," James told him, opening the car door. He liked driving, it was relaxing and he wished he had a car of his own to use instead of Shinbo's.   
  
-  
  
"Who is she?" the nurse asked the scruffy man. He was a hiker, one of a group of five that arrived earlier that day with an unconscious girl in tow.  
  
He shrugged. "I dunno," he started to explain. "We were hiking, and got off the trail...WAY off the trail. We'd set up camp at who knows where, and I guess she smelled the food-wild thing, that one-but she comes over. Marty over there, with the black eye, tried to talk to her and she jumped him."  
  
The nurse looked concerned. "I wonder how long she was up there, I mean, judging by the state of her clothes..."  
  
"Speaking of which," the man reminded her, "what was left of those clothes is clearly an outdated Rocket uniform-she's dangerous."  
  
The Nurse looked thoughtful and worried. "We'll have to see," she said. "If she has been up there for a long time, it might not be her fault-she could be crazy."   
  
A candy striper came out of the girl's room, and handed the nurse a chart. She looked at the thing for a minute or two, seeming to be concentrating hard, until she finally turned back to the man. "Mr. Basho, we're keeping her sedated and moving her to a bigger hospital in Jhoto," she told him. "I know you and your men have done a brave and heroic thing by saving her, but I think that if she was surrounded by press...well we don't know what state her mind will be in, so please, could we keep this quiet for a bit?"  
  
Basho grinned. "That's no problem at all ma'am."  
  
  
Shinbo had a hangover and was presently on the floor of James's bathroom, trying not to throw up. He had too much to think about in his aching head, and it didn't help that all the money he'd spent on drinks last night had literally gone down the toilet.   
  
Looking back, it was a stupid decision to go out drinking last night. That made him too sick to go out tonight, the night that poor James would benefit most from getting drunk and forgetting certain things.   
  
Shinbo knew what today was. A year after he met James, he'd found out the cause of the man's downfall, and today was the anniversary of it.   
  
Three years ago today was the last time he'd seen that Jessie person.  
  
James always got depressed this time of year, and Shinbo was at a loss to make the guy snap out of his daze. The hangover wasn't helping much either-the minute James had finally opened the door (looking like a train wreck) instead of offering some comforting words, Shinbo had rushed into the bathroom and it was now two hours later.   
  
The medicine seemed to finally be taking effect (he hadn't puked in the last tem minutes, that was always a good sign), and he risked resurfacing into the living room.   
  
James sat on the couch leaning over the coffee table and not blinking as he quickly changed the channels. Over and over again, he kept circling around the stations at a crazy speed. Shinbo knew that he was watching for any sign on the news of his friend being found-poor guy, it was sad.   
  
"James!" he said, swaying a little but keeping his balance. "Let's go out and do something-you can't just sit around here-"  
  
"Can't," James said quickly, not looking at him. "I might miss something."  
  
Shinbo crossed his arms. This time, he knew he'd be unable to get James to hang out. Not today. It was so unhealthy for the guy to obsess like this, even three years after she was gone. Maybe if he just got a little air to clear his mind, but he didn't look like he was going anywhere. James sat, glued to his seat, and refused to take his eyes off the screen for a moment.  
  
This required a more devious plan, or as Shinbo referred to it "tough love". He reached for the car keys James had taken from him last night (he'd taken the bus this morning). "Well," he said in a melodramatically defeated tone, "I guess I'll just drive home then."  
  
It took a moment for James to register this, and when he did he immediately snatched the keys back (which was amazing because he still had his eyes on the TV). "Oh know," he said, still watching the monitor, "You can't even stand up straight." Shinbo (purposely) slouched even more as he said this.  
  
"Well I have things to do, and the bus won't come for another half hour," he said, putting his acting skills to work. "If you have so little faith in my driving ability, than you could drive me home but you're busy as I see..." he trailed off there, knowing what would happen.   
  
James was very overprotective of his friends, after loosing his closest it made sense. He wasn't about to let Shinbo drive just yet, so he regretfully turned away from the television. "I'm not staying," he said. "You don't have enough channels, I have to check them all, and something's bound to have..."   
  
"Okay!" Shinbo shouted quickly, hurting his own head with the noise he'd made. "Let's go then."  
  
  
Dr. Kenson had seen the girl wake up. She'd opened her eyes slowly, then jerked up, disconnecting her IV in the process. She'd crouched on her hospital bed, looking ferocious as she took in the atmosphere of the unfamiliar place. She slowly looked at each thing in the room, and at the scared nurses, and immediately was calmer. She'd collapsed on her stomach, and glared at the room from that position, completely silent.  
  
Dr. Kenson had no background file for this girl. Nobody knew who she was, only that she'd been found in the Andes wilderness and had apparently been there for some time.   
  
"Hello, Miss," he tried, slowly approaching her. She gave him a look that, if he didn't know any batter, seemed patronizing. "I-am-Doc-tor-Ken-son-" he tired slowly. She raised an eyebrow and gave the look of someone who was amused, but Kenson dismissed it. She'd been in the wild for so long, she probably couldn't understand him.   
  
He turned to a nurse. "Mel, could you get some x-rays? And I want you to call the other healthcare chains to see if they have her file. Also, we'll need a blood test..."   
As he was talking, nobody noticed the girl sneak out the door.   
  
She walked into the hall, holding her hospital gown closed with one hand. A receptionist's desk was just outside her room, at the entrance to the patient's wing, and she headed for it. The nurse who sat behind the counter had her back to the girl, fiddling with some files and grumbling to herself. She didn't see the girl pick up the phone.  
  
The girl stared at the receiver in front of her face, scolding herself. 'The number's too old, it won't work,' she told herself. 'You shouldn't be bothering him after all this time' she felt horrible. 'You're too dangerous, you can't be around people' but she'd go crazy if she stayed away from people. Why not give it a try... 'He could get hurt if they're still after you' but who else could she call? Hating herself, she dialed the number.  
  
  
James's cell phone went off while they were on 10th street. Shinbo glared at the thing. "Don't answer it," he told James. "It's another telemarketer, you're only fooling yourself."  
  
James knew what he was talking about. He'd kept his cell phone running (paid for and everything) just in case Meowth, Mondo, or even Jessie might contact him. It hardly ever rang, and when it did it was a wrong number, or somebody selling something, and it always left James feeling depressed.   
  
Shinbo was probably right. It really wasn't worth the disappointment, but still...   
  
He remembered the St. Anne. She'd said she wouldn't leave him, and ever since then she'd been there when he'd nearly given up. And he wouldn't give up now. He picked up the phone. ("You're crazy" Shinbo groaned.)  
  
At first there was an odd silence. He could hear background noise, but nothing from the immediate area of the speaker. "Hello?" he tried, unsure.   
He heard somebody inhale sharply, and then slowly, as if it hurt to talk, he heard "James?"   
  
  
Shoibo was suddenly jerked forward, and he heard a crashing sound. "Dude!" he yelled. They'd just hit a mailbox. "I know I was drunk at the time, but YOU were the one worried that I would crash..." But James wasn't paying any attention to him.  
  
James was leaning over in his seat, phone to one ear, and hand pressed against the other to keep out the wound of the honking cars behind them. He seemed to be in a sort of shock, and at first Shinbo thought it was the crash, but James was focused on the phone. "Jess...?" 


	3. 

"Oh not this again," Shinbo muttered from behind him. He got out of the car to access the damage of his vehicle, and the yell at the honking cars behind him.  
  
But James wasn't paying attention to Shinbo. "Jess? Jessie is that you?" he shouted into the phone. He heard some muffled sounds from the other end, and finally someone answered.  
  
"Hello, who is this?" it wasn't Jessie, if the first voice had been Jessie to begin with. "I'm sorry about this...a patient slipped right through. Dr. Kenson didn't even see her leave the room. She's supposed to be under supervision-poor thing, very confused, probably just dialed a random number while I wasn't looking, I'm very sorry." There was a click, and the line went dead.  
  
James sat stiff in his place, stunned. Patient? Dr. who? Frustrated, he hit *69 and put the phone to his ear again. "You have reached the Red Cross International Medical Service Hospital. If you are enquiring about an appointment, press 1 now. If you-" he hung up. There must be hundreds of receptionists and secretaries in a hospital that big, there wouldn't be much of a chance of getting a hold of the one he'd spoken to. But the important thing was, he knew where to find Jessie.   
  
Shinbo got back in the car, looking considerably worse than angry. "You're paying for this you know-and the fines that tipping a public mailbox, I don't even want to think about them!"   
  
"Uh huh," James said distractedly. It was Shinbo's car...how was he supposed to get to the hospital? If he even brought up the thought that he suspected Jessie was there his friend would snap, tell him he was delusional, and take the keys. James cautiously pushed down on the gas pedal. The motor revved-yes! It's still running. Now he just had to take care of Shinbo...   
  
"And another thing!" the aforementioned person was saying. "Some jerk says he'll sue me if he misses his plane 'cause of your delay, and I'm not paying-"  
  
"Shinbo!" James interrupted him, yelling in melodramatic worry. "Are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fi-"   
  
"We have to get you to the hospital!" he slammed down on the pedal. "You could have a concussion, internal bleeding, whiplash..." he listed as they passed the speed limit by an easy twenty miles.   
  
"Dude, calm down already! And SLOW down already while you're at-"  
  
"Are you're eyes dilated? That could be serious..." they nearly missed a tree as James rounded another sharp corner. Shinbo had stopped protesting, now looking terrified and frozen-it was a good thing James had driven a good number of getaway vehicles or else he might have scared himself with his own driving.   
  
When they finally arrived at the hospital Shinbo's face had a green tint. James had been forced to hit the brake so fast they'd gone into a sideways half-spin and landed in what was surely an illegal parking space, but James didn't care. As soon as he cut the engine, Shinbo dashed out of the car. "Okay, NOW I'm sick. You are crazy-insane, loony, psycho...I'm running out of words to describe you!" he shouted. "Hey, where are you going?!" James was already through the sliding glass doors at the entrance.  
  
  
By the time Shinbo had caught up with his friend, James was at the front desk annoying/scaring the receptionist. "Look," he was saying in an irritated voice. "She has red hair, blue eyes, about twenty-seven...five foot six I think-" Shinbo felt sorry for the young candy striper manning the front desk. James was in her face, and she looked flustered.  
  
"L-look I-I haven't seen her, and her name's not in our database. If she is here then she didn't come in though the front," she stammered, her voice high. "The doctors m-might not have been able to identify her...s-she could have come in though the E.R....y-you could check the patient's ward...o-or--"  
  
But James had apparently given up with her, and stormed off in a random direction to look for Jessie himself. The candy striper sank down in her seat and breathed a sigh of relief. Shinbo stared after James worriedly-they guy had actually snapped. James needed help. He turned to the candy striper. "Look, I'm sorry about him-a friend of his died, he cant accept it," he told her.  
  
She shook her blue-haired head. "No, it's okay...we get that a lot. I could recommend a therapist...if he doesn't have one already."  
  
Shinbo sighed. "I thought I was doing a good job on my own, but I guess not." He thought for a moment. "Yeah, why don't you give me the name of that shrink. I'll talk to him." She handed him a slip of paper.   
  
"He's in the hospital now," the candy striper told him. "You can find him in the East Wing across from the optometry department-he's working with the mentally ill."   
  
Shinbo held up his hands. "Whoa, wait a sec. James may miss his friend but he's not crazy," he told her, even though he had just called James crazy among other things in the parking lot.   
  
The candy striper narrowed her eyes at him, "I can see that," she said. "But refusing acceptance of anything important can often make people turn unstable. I'm just trying to make you catch it before it gets worse."  
  
Shinbo eyes the paper. "R-right." He was about to head for the East Wing, when he turned back to the girl at the desk. "Hey, how about giving me your phone number too-OW!!"   
  
She had slapped him. "I'm in high school you pervert!"  
  
  
-  
  
Shinbo didn't like the East Wing at all. He stood in the only hall way, and on either side of him the walls were plaster half way up, and thick glass the rest of the way to the ceiling. Like a sick little fish tank.   
  
He stiffened, and kept walking. If James didn't get help he would end up in here. Through the glass he could see all sorts of people. Many of them talked to themselves, muttering things about revenge or holding conversation with invisible people. Some nurses were trying to coax a woman down from the lighting fixture, while a little girl sat huddled under a table as a man and a woman who must be her parents cried. In the back of his head, Shinbo noted that none of these people looked like the woman in James's photo.   
  
He reached a door, but it was, of course, locked. He knocked and a nurse answered. "May I help you?" she asked as if she was already bored with him. Her eyes only hung half open as if she was sleepy.   
  
"Um...yeah..." Shinbo shifted nervously. She gave him the creeps. "I'm looking for a Dr..." he checked the little piece of paper that the candy striper had given him. "A Dr. Sabrina...um...I guess it's just Sabrina."  
  
The nurse eyed him. "She'll be here shortly. Wait in the hall." And she slammed the door. Shinbo wanted to mutter something sarcastic, but he decided against it, for he didn't want any therapists to walk by and hear him talking to himself.  
  
He heard footsteps behind him, and his ears instinctively perked up as he recognized the sound of high-heels. He turned around to face a young woman around eighteen. She had long green hair, and piercing eyes. An Alakazam trotted at her heels. "May I help you?"  
  
She looked real familiar...this wasn't just Dr. Sabrina, this was THE Sabrina! "Hey, weren't you the Celadon Gym leader?"  
  
"Saffron City gym leader." She said shortly. "I was. What do you need?"   
  
He fought off answering 'a date with you' and began to tell Sabrina about James. He told her that he thought James would be in trouble if he didn't accept that this Jessie girl was dead, and he told her about how weird James acted when the subject was brought up. His story only got interrupted once when a woman banged into him.  
  
"I'd like to talk to this James," Sabrina finally said. "You said he was here?"  
  
"Yeah," Shinbo nodded, "Freaked out the girl at the front desk-although I can't say I didn't either..." he coughed. "I'll call him up here." He reached for his cell phone, but found it wasn't in his pocket. "Hey-what gives-" he looked up and saw the woman who had bumped into him near the end of the hallway. She leaned against the wall, and was dialing a number on a cell phone. That chick had ripped him off!   
  
He'd been about to run over, but before he'd even opened his mouth to yell at the woman, Sabrina had taken notice. Her eyes had shot open wide and red, and in a second, the phone was ripped from the woman's hand in a crystal blue aurora, and floated to the waiting Sabrina. She handed it to him. "Your phone."  
  
It took him a second or two to respond. He'd forgotten that the Saffron City Gym was also an institute for people with telekinesis. "Uh...thanks..." he managed, and then looked down at the phone to dial James's cellular. But his number was already there, on the tiny display screen, just waiting for someone to push the 'call' button.   
  
Considerably surprised, Shinbo looked up at the woman at the end of the hall. How had she known James's number? She was wearing a green hospital gown, so she must be a patient. She still stood, leaning against the wall, staring at him. She was tall and just too thin, as if she hadn't eaten well in a long time. Her hair was cut messily and very short and it was very dirty, but still you could see the bright red color that hung under the layer of film. She kept staring at him with strange eyes, deep sea-blue and piercing.   
  
So this was Jessie. 


	4. 

James had skipped over pediatrics and the pharmacy, and was searching the CAT scan tubes in radiology when Shinbo came rushing in like a madman. "JAMES! JAMES!!" he yelled, trying to stop but failing and he slid into some machine. He got up, panting and still trying to say something. "Girl-she was-my phone-took it-you gotta get down to-Sabrina said-"   
  
James had to put his hands on Shinbo's shoulders to stop the guy from hitting him with his elaborate arm motions. "Slow down, I can't understand you!"  
  
"I-but-she-doctors-"  
  
"Slow DOWN!" James shouted, and Shinbo stopped trying to explain and focused on catching his breath so he could make more sense. James took another fleeting glance around the room. He'd checked at least ten other hospital wards and nothing. Maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him; it wouldn't have been the first time.   
  
Last year, around this time, he'd sworn he'd seen Jessie at one of her favorite stores, but he only succeeded in scaring a cashier woman. But it had sounded like her... He sighed. Maybe it was time to move on-if he kept jumping like this he could flip out. "Maybe you're right, Shinbo," he started. "Maybe I have lost it. I've definitely lost her..."  
  
  
  
Shinbo's head shot up. He wasn't hearing this. "Wait a-she-but-here...oxygen!"   
  
"You were right...I guess..." James was saying, and his heart wasn't in it. Sure, the one time he used his head instead of his heart, it was at the completely wrong moment! It was a shame Shinbo was having trouble getting air in his lungs...  
"I guess we should leave..." he'd never seen James so depressed. "You were ri-"  
  
"HOLD IT!" he finally belted out, using the only breath of air he'd managed to contain. He caught his breath again. "I was wrong, she's HERE!" And there went his oxygen intake once more.   
  
James had frozen. It seemed to take a second or two for him to get the point. "...What?" he finally got out. His voice was kind of far off and disbelieving, as if he thought he hallucinated the whole thing.  
  
Finally Shinbo caught his breath. Dang, this hospital smelled funny... "I SAW her-at least I think I did-"  
  
"WHERE?" James was shaking his head, eyes darting, as if daring himself to believe it to be true.   
  
"The East Wing. They put her with those people who are...off, so to speak," Shinbo said cautiously.   
  
James lifted his head to stare at him, looking a bit scared. "Is there something wrong with her?"  
  
He shrugged. "She looked like she could do with a good meal--and a hair stylist-but she was definitely aware enough to pick my pocket...didn't say a thing though."  
  
James smiled a little, as if proud of his little friend for stealing Shinbo's phone, then something seemed to register with him. "Why didn't you bring her down here? Did you tell her-"  
  
"I couldn't tell her anything! And Sabrina said I couldn't use a cellular in the hospital-interferes with machines or something," he said, remembering why he'd been in such a hurry. "Just as I recognized her-you know, from that picture you have-some other doctors came running in. Apparently she'd gone a-wall on 'em...took her off somewhere and told me to get lost." James looked furious; his fists were clenched tight. "I thought I'd better find you before they did any weird tests or gave her medic-hey wait up!" James was running down the hall.  
  
  
"Ow! Doctor that's the third time," Melanie said, rubbing her sore hand. "Don't you think she's trying to tell us something?" She once again retrieved the needle from the ground and handed it to another nurse, who handed her a clean one in its place. This had been the third time she'd tried to inject their new wild patient with some medicine. It always happened the same way-the girl would sit still and calm, enough to fool Melanie into thinking she might just sit still this time, and then she would slap the needle out of her hand quick as lightning.   
  
Dr. Kenson shook his head and have her a look. "She is just responding to the animal instinct to defend herself. How many times to I have to tell you she doesn't understand a word we say!"   
  
Melanie and the patient exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. This woman seemed smart enough to her, perhaps she couldn't talk... "Maybe we should give her something to write with."  
  
Dr. Kenson continued as if she hadn't spoken. "We'll probably have to hold her down..." he started to come towards her, but the woman's head jerked up and she glared at him like a Persian-as dumb as Kenson acted, Mel had to believe he was right about the animal instinct. Kenson backed away, and tried to retain his composure. "Perhaps we should sedate her instead-from a distance." He fished around in his coat pocket and produced a pokeball. "I have a Gloom that knows sleep powder, but then again it might make the place smell bad...Mel, you have a Butterfree, don't you?"  
  
"Er, yes," she said nervously. "Uh sir, I don't know if-" but she was interrupted by noises from outside.   
  
The receptionist was yelling, "Who gave you authorization-" and was interrupted by a second voice who answered, "Sabrina did!" Then, a third voice shouted "Will you wait up Ja-hey pretty girl, wanna go out with me?" then there was a nasty sounding slapping noise (the receptionists took tai bo).   
  
Kenson had, as inattentive as he was, taken notice. "Mel, put a screen around the bed, I don't want our Jane Doe to get upset."  
  
"R-right," Mel brought the curtain around her and the hospital bed the woman sat on, but she kept trying to see past the screen.   
  
She heard some man run into the room. "Hey! I'm looking for someone," he breathed out, looking exhausted, apparently he'd been running. "Tall-red head-kinda temperamental..."   
  
The patient looked up, the voice catching her attention. Her mouth opened a bit, like she was waiting for her voice to work. She looked a bit stiff, and partially leaned against the bed, as if she couldn't decide if she should pull away the curtain or not.  
  
Mel heard Dr. Kenson speaking. "I'm sorry sir but I haven't seen anyone like that." She couldn't believe him! That guy might be looking for...whoever she was! She looked to the patient, who's fists were clenched a bit and she was shaking her head, mouth moving slightly as if she wanted to yell out at the doctor, or the visitor, but then she stopped and sat back on the bed. She looked defeated-she was just going to let Dr. Kenson lie to that guy out there!  
Well Melanie wouldn't stand for that...  
  
  
She couldn't see him, not James, she'd decided on that. Jessie knew how dangerous it was to be around her, he'd get hurt. Maybe she was lucky that Kenson guy was a know-it-all jerk who didn't want to give up his most "interesting" patient.   
  
"There are mentally ill people in the ward," the doctor was saying. "If you keep running around and yelling, you're only going to upset them. Please leave this room, I'm tending to a patient."  
  
Yes James, leave, please...   
  
He'd almost gotten killed because of her last time, even though he didn't know it. And now...now things were worse, he'd get hurt. She had to get out of here, away from people, or at least the people she cared about. If one more person got hurt because of her-Jessie was sure she could never handle that.  
  
The nurse that seemed to be the only sane medic-Mel, wasn't it?-seemed to be getting more and more angry with each word Kenson was saying. Finally it looked like she'd taken the last straw.   
  
"Dr. Kenson!" she shouted, pulling the curtain away. "You have no right to interfere with the lives of strangers-she's not a lab rattata!" She moved to the side a little, bringing Jessie into full view.  
  
Knowing she couldn't avoid him forever-and indulging her secret desire to see him once more-Jessie lifted her head to face James.  
  
She wasn't able to see his reaction. All she heard was a loud "Jess!" and James collided into her in a tight hug. He'd knocked the air out of her lungs, and she'd only been able to get out a breathless "hey".  
  
"I knew you were alive," he said, sounding happy but muffled with his face buried in what was left of her now very short hair. "But what happened? You're too thin, are you all right?"  
  
Jessie had to admit she was a bit surprised about this kind of attention. She'd thought he'd be angry with her. Maybe he hadn't realized...maybe he'd never found out...and did Meowth tell him anything? "I'm okay," she answered him, starting their reunion off with a lie. "Just hungry, and tired, kinda-ow, not so tight."   
  
She felt his head on her shoulder move in what was a nod and he loosened his grip on her, just a little. "Come on," he said, smiling and pulling up to face her, "I'll take you home."  
  
Dr. Kenson, who'd been arguing with Mel and her assistant nurse, looked over. "You don't have authorization for her release-she needs to stay here for observation," he said. "She'd incoherent-doesn't understand a thing your saying to-"  
  
"Shut up!" Jessie snapped at him, "I've taken enough from you. And for your information I wasn't being a difficult patient, I'm allergic to penicillin, and if you did your job right you'd have tested for that."  
  
Kenson looked uncomfortable. Mel looked smug. "I knew she was just messing with you," she said.   
  
The practical part of Jessie was screaming at her. She knew that she shouldn't go with James; she knew it was too dangerous, but she still couldn't control the impulse to sink back into his grip. He still smelled like roses...and she got a sense of euphoria from the scent like a drug. A drug that impaired her judgment, that feeling of love that was so dangerous for her-she couldn't overcome it, and her heart didn't want to.   
  
"Well I still can't authorize her release, she-" Kenson tried, but was cut off.  
  
"I'm authorizing her release," Sabrina announced from the door, Shinbo gawking at her from a few feet behind. "She's alive, malnourished but altogether healthy, and I see no reason to keep her here if the young man promises to give her a good meal."  
  
Dr. Kenson took Sabrina's arm and led her into the hallway where the muffled sounds of an argument filtered in through the door that Shinbo closed behind him when he entered. He walked over to Jessie and James, grinning, "So I got the right girl, didn't I? This cute thief?" he muttered something about a cell phone under his breath.  
  
Jessie looked at him with a half narrow, almost cross-eyed glare, but James smiled, tightened his grip on her once more. "Yep, this is Jessie."  
  
Shinbo smiled. Now that he found her, James might just act normal-or as normal as he could get, anyway. "Well lil lady," he addressed her, "I was beginning to think you didn't exist."  
  
  
Dr. Kenson, not liking his loss to Sabrina, had turned on Melanie. "That was completely out of place, Mel. I thought you knew better than to question my judgment!"  
  
Mel, in a particularly rude moment she wasn't used to, tossed her blonde, curly hair and shrugged. "You just wanted to probe her, inject her, and become the famous so called doctor who cured 'the deranged savage suffering from isolation sickness'," she shouted at him. "You were doing this for publicity-she may have been up in the Andes for some time, but what it does to her mentally is her own business until she becomes a threat to society." She took off her lab coat and filtered through the jackets on the hat rack looking for hers. "Besides, that-what was it, Jessie?-seemed to be just fine to me. Being alone in those harsh mountains would most likely cause trauma, but maybe it didn't in this case. And that man was looking for her anyway..." she found her jacket and put it on, then took off her nurse's cap with the red cross.  
  
Dr. Kenson was red in the face with anger. "Now you see here, young lady. I-" Mel's watch beeped and she cut him off.  
  
"Well finish this tomorrow. My shift is over, and I have a date," she said, walking past Kenson to a silver haired man waiting by the nurses station.  
"Thanks for waiting, Basho, you wouldn't believe the day I've had!"  
  
The man smiled and held out his arm to her. "Why don't you tell me everything about it..."  
  
  
tbc 


End file.
